1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door lock apparatus installed to a door of a vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
This kind of door lock apparatus is provided with a latch mechanism having a fork holding a striker provided in a vehicle body side, and a claw engaging with the fork so as to hold an engaged state of the striker by the fork. Further, the door lock apparatus is provided with a link which is set to be movable from an unlock position capable of engaging with the claw to a lock position incapable of engaging with the claw. If a lock plate is actuated by an operation of a key inserted to a cylinder key and a driving of an actuator by a remote control operation, the link is moved to the lock position and the unlock position by the lock plate.
Further, in a case where the door is opened, a door handle inside the vehicle or outside the vehicle is operated in a state where the link is moved from the lock position to the unlock position via the lock plate by the key operation or the remote control operation. Accordingly, the link is activated to open by an open lever coupled to the door handle to actuate the claw, thereby cancelling the engagement between the claw and the fork and canceling the held state of the striker by the fork.
However, in this door lock apparatus, since the link comes into contact with a side surface of an operation receiving portion of the claw in a case where the door handle has been already operated at a time of carrying out the lock cancellation (the unlocking operation) by the key operation or the remote control operation, the link can not be moved to the unlock position. As a result, the lock plate can not move to the unlock position. In this case, hereinafter, this state is called “panic state”. In this case, there is a problem that the door can not be opened until the unlocking operation is carried out again after the operation of the door handle is stopped temporarily, and the door handle is thereafter operated.
As a related art publication information of the door lock apparatus which is structured such as to dissolve the problem mentioned above, there exists a Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-44360.
A door lock apparatus in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-44360 is structured such that a lock plate (a locking lever) is constructed by a main lever, and a sub lever arranged so as to be relatively movable with respect to the main lever. Further, a spring for moving to an initial energized position before a relative movement is arranged between the main lever and the sub lever.
In the door lock apparatus in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-44360, if a door handle is operated in an unlock state, a link is actuated and the link comes into contact with a claw (a lift lever) so as to rotate the claw, thereby canceling a held state of a striker and making the door openable. Further, if the door handle is operated in a lock state, the link is actuated. However, since the link is rotated to a position at which it can not come into contact with the claw, the held state of the striker can be maintained.
On the other hand, in a case where the door handle is operated in the lock state and the unlocking operation is carried out, the link is further unlock activated in a state where the link is activated to be opened by the operation of the door handle, thereby coming into contact with the claw. However, since the lock plate is constructed by the main lever and the sub lever which are relatively movable, the main lever is rotated to a normal unlock position. On the other hand, since the link is inhibited from rotating, the sub lever can not be rotated to a normal unlock position, and is relatively moved with respect to the main lever against an energizing force of the spring. Further, if the operation of the door handle is cancelled, the door opening actuation with respect to the link is cancelled. Accordingly, the link is moved to a non-open actuation position. At this time, the sub lever is moved to the initial energized position before the relative movement by the energizing force of the spring. As a result, the link is securely moved to the non-open actuation position and the unlock position.
As mentioned above, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-44360 is structured such that the unlock state can be securely set by canceling the operation of the door handle, even if the unlocking actuation is carried out by the key operation or the remote control operation in a state where the door handle is operated in the lock state (an anti-panic mechanism).
However, in the door lock apparatus of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-44360, since the lock plate is constructed by a pair of main lever and sub lever, and the spring is arranged for energizing them to the initial energized positions before the relative movement, there is a disadvantage that the parts number is increased, and a manufacturing cost becomes high.